Archive for May 28, 2010

This picture is from the Deepwater Horizon Unified Response Website. Two VERY FUBAR things of note–it looks like their only protective gear, apart from sun hats is in the form of very skimpy looking gloves. No respirators or anything to protect arms. The other thing, most of the workers are clearly non-whites. This has been true in a number of pictures I’ve seen elsewhere as well. Racism, nah, I’m sure it is just a coincidence, just like Katrina.

Gee maybe they should have thought of this before we got pummeled with all those Little Purple Pill commercials:

Federal health regulators are warning doctors and patients that heartburn drugs like Nexium and Prilosec may cause bone fractures when used for more than a year.The Food and Drug Administration said several studies showed increased risk of hip, wrist and spine fractures in patients using drugs that block stomach acid.

According to the FDA, walnuts are unapproved drugs because they have been scientifically proven to lower high cholesterol. So the FDA has unleashed a threatening attack against a large walnut company to scare them into removing all scientific research about walnuts from their website and marketing materials.

The first a post from someone near Tampa saying there was oil mixed in the rain they had driven through. No confirmation of that, but it seems pretty plausible to me that it could happen and there have also already been stories reporting concern about things getting worse when hurricane season starts. Think about it–wind pushes moisture out of the gulf and comes inland–we even got hit with a hurricane in Louisville, KY a few years ago and we are seriously land-locked around here. So think you’re safe because you don’t live near the gulf. I’d say think again.

And the other thing I saw that is a very scary thought is this from David Roberts on Grist regarding what happens if the ‘top kill’ doesn’t stop the oil that is spewing into the gulf:

“(T)hen what? Junk shot? Top hat? Loony stuff like nukes? Relief wells will take months to drill and no one’s sure if they’ll work to relieve pressure. It’s entirely possible, even likely, that we’re going to be stuck helplessly watching as this well spews oil into the Gulf for years. Even if the flow were stopped tomorrow, the damage to marshes, coral, and marine life is done. The Gulf of Mexico will become an ecological and economic dead zone. There’s no real way to undo it, no matter who’s in charge.”

As each day goes by, the BP oil disaster only seems to get worse. Today ABC showed footage shot by one of their reporters who went deep sea diving in hazmat suits with Phillipe Cousteau, grandson of Jacques. What they show is truly terrifying. Yes the dispersants are breaking the oil into smaller globs, but that just makes it more easily absorbed by fish and other ocean life. And about that top kill plan–iffy that it will work and might make it worse. Anyone betting which way that will go?

We Americans are not very good at telling or hearing the truth, although we’d like to think that we are. We tell our schoolchildren that George Washington could not tell a lie about chopping down the cherry tree, even though, ironies of ironies, the story likely isn’t true. We fall all over ourselves giving the microphone to people whose whole understanding of the world is a lie (Rand Paul, Sarah Palin) because while we might not be very good at discerning or disseminating facts, we do so love our fiction.

“Next year’s budget allocates $159,000,000,000 to “contingency operations,” to perpetuate the occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq. That’s enough money to eliminate federal income taxes for the first $35,000 of every American’s income each year, and beyond that, leave over $15 billion that would cut the deficit.”

But the marshes are being destroyed, the oceans poisoned–there is no going back from this and as yet no way to stop it. This isn’t Exxon-Valdez, it is far, far worse and the damage beyond anything this country has ever seen and one which cannot be fixed. The Gulf coast as we know it is gone. The fishing, the tourism. There will be health consequences. There won’t be fish. Or perhaps coral reefs. Or perhaps us. And that is the truth of it.

“No one knows how much of BP’s runaway oil will contaminate the gulf coast’s marshes and lakes and bayous and canals, destroying wildlife and fauna — and ruining the hopes and dreams of countless human families. What is known is that whatever oil gets in will be next to impossible to get out. It gets into the soil and the water and the plant life and can’t be scraped off the way you might be able to scrape the oil off of a beach.

It permeates and undermines the ecosystem in much the same way that big corporations have permeated and undermined our political system, with similarly devastating results.”

“The oil field the Deepwater Horizon had tapped is said to be the second largest deposit in the world. Viewzone.com reports, “The site covers an estimated 25,000 square miles, extending from the inlands of Alabama, Florida, Louisiana and Texas. “

The oil deposit is so large, it could produce 500,000 barrels of a day for more than a decade.

Part of the reason the well exploded is because the site also contains large deposits of natural gas…

…The New York Times has reported that scientists suspect the leak is thousands of times larger than what BP has been reporting. Some estimates are as high as one million gallons a day.

Rock particles, gas and oil escaping under pressure are pushing against the capstone on the sea floor that surrounds the actual well. If it collapses, the canyon of oil will escape with a vengeance.

Neither BP nor anyone else wants to say what will happen it the wellhead gives way or the sea floor around it caves in.”

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Meanwhile, to hear government officials and Wall Street tell it, the economy is recovering, and perhaps in the language of economics it is. But in truth the ‘recovery’ looks something like an upside down Ponzi scheme, a bit like the Tempe, AZ City Hall.

All the wealth is at the top but there is little to support it down below–and unlike the architecturally brilliant building, the upside down economic pyramid must eventually fall down. We have almost pathological blinders when it comes to seeing the obvious perils to our continued existence–climate change and global warming, peak oil, water and food shortages, melting glaciers, species extinction, deforestration, floods, droughts, oceans under siege. But still we gulp the koolaid and believe that growth is good and things will be better soon. And we are just as blind when it comes to understanding that commodifying the sanctity of corporate well-being over human welfare is ultimately our downfall, not the path to prosperity that it claims to be.

I don’t watch much television, but I guess I should because it seems there is a Tru Tv which claims to be, “television’s destination for real-life stories told from an exciting and dramatic first-person perspective. “Not Reality. Actuality”. The truth will not be televised, but television is truth. As for the American dream, it is the reality show to end all reality shows. And in the finale, the truth will out, but unlike “Lost” or American Idol”, there won’t be re-runs and don’t hold your breath for a spin-off or a sequel.

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Note regarding dispersants: Via the Times Online this is why these are so very dangerous. I would add that we should be extremely worried about the impact on reproductive health on animals and humans as well:

“Dispersants can contain particular evils. Corexit 9527 — used extensively by BP despite it being toxic enough to be banned in British waters — contains 2-butoxyethanol, a compound that ruptures red blood cells in whatever eats it. Its replacement, COREXIT 9500, contains petroleum solvents and other components that can damage membranes, and cause chemical pneumonia if aspirated into the lungs following ingestion.

But what worries Dr (Susan) Shaw most is the long-term potential for toxic chemicals to build up in the food chain. “There are hundreds of organic compounds in oil, including toxic solvents and PAHs (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons), that can cause cancer in animals and people. In this respect light, sweet crude is more toxic than the heavy stuff. It’s not only the acute effects, the loss of whole niches in the food web, it’s also the problems we will see with future generations, especially in top predators.””

Tomorrow I am going to be talking to Dr. Riki Ott about the impact of oil and dispersants on reproductive health. This afternoon, in preparation for that, I spoke to her assistant, Lisa Marie Jacobs who shared a few thoughts that are going to make it awfully difficult to sleep tonight.

Dr. Riki Ott

One of the ingredients in Corexit, the dispersant BP is using in the Gulf is 2-ButoxyEthanol. It is being used in massive quantities in the Gulf, more than 700,000 gallons so far. But guess what, chances are you have some 2-ButoxyEthanol under the sink in your kitchen or out in the garage because it is a common ingredient in cleaners, car wax and paint primer. The National Institute of Health has a handy list of all the places you might find this toxic stuff here. And here is why you worry about this stuff:

People exposed to high levels of 2-butoxyethanol for several hours reported irritation of the nose and eyes, headache, a metallic taste in their mouths, and vomiting. No harmful effects were seen on their lungs or hearts. People who swallowed large amounts of cleaning agents containing 2-butoxyethanol have shown breathing problems, low blood pressure, low levels of hemoglobin (the substance in the blood that carries oxygen to organs of the body), acidic blood, and blood in the urine.

It is not known whether 2-butoxyethanol or 2-butoxyethanol acetate can affect reproduction or cause birth defects in people.

Animal studies have shown hemolysis (destruction of red blood cells that results in the release of hemoglobin) from exposure to 2-butoxyethanol and 2-butoxyethanol acetate. High doses of 2-butoxyethanol can also cause reproductive problems and minor birth defects in animals.

The Department of Health and Human Services, the International Agency for Research on Cancer, and Environmental Protection Agency have not classified 2-butoxyethanol and 2-butoxyethanol acetate as to their human carcinogenicity.

No carcinogenicity studies on 2-butoxyethanol and 2-butoxyethanol acetate are available in people or animals.

Sounds like reason enough to empty your cabinets and take that stuff to the nearest hazardous dump (and don’t even think about just throwing it in the trash). But then try to imagine 700,000 gallons of that stuff in our oceans. Feeling sick yet?

Postscript: A few hours after I spoke with Ms. Jacobs, I was at the grocery store picking up a few things. The clerk was about to spray the scanner with disinfectant before scanning my produce. I opted to take the risk of the bacteria rather than the chemicals.

The Financial Times apparently wouldn’t run this Amnesty ad, but it should be run and Amnesty has asked that it be shared, so on behalf of the independent blogosphere, a big up yours to the Financial Times for genuflecting to corporate power and shirking at ads like this that tell the truth:

And ya know what–it feels mighty damned good that I can run this for no cost because it is the right thing to do and I don’t have to kiss any corporate ass.

(According to) NOAA director of marine mammal health and stranding response Teri Rowles, a veterinarian, impacts on “those species living in deep water, like sperm whales, may not be detected,” because dead whales simply disappear beneath the waves. Plus, the use of dispersants beneath the surface to break up the oil into droplets may make it more damaging to deep-sea wildlife. “Instead of having big chunks of oil that are very buoyant and move very quickly to the surface, you have microdroplets with an enormous surface-to-volume ratio, which then are captured by the viscosity of the seawater. They’re stuck down there,” says environmental chemist Jeffrey Short of environmental group Oceana, who has studied the aftereffects of the Exxon Valdez spill. “Ancient deep-water corals, which are suspension feeders, are extraordinarily efficient at accumulating microdroplets of oil. It’s a major unseen impact.”

Much of the oil will also end up trapped in big eddies—like the infamous Pacific Garbage Patch or the Sargasso Sea—which is where sea turtles and other ocean life like to congregate. “Most of those mortalities will never make their way to shore to be counted,” said NOAA national sea turtle coordinator Barbara Schroeder.

Fishermen...are getting sick from the working on the cleanup, yet BP is assuring them they don’t need respirators or other special protection from the crude oil, strong hydrocarbon vapors, or chemical dispersants being sprayed in massive quantities on the oil slick.

The massive Gulf of Mexico oil spill is growing despite British Petroleum’s effort to siphon some of the spewing crude from its ruptured deepwater well, the U.S. Coast Guard official leading the cleanup warned Tuesday.